I'll have a Harry Lime and a little zither music

Lately, I have found myself drawn to The Lives of Harry Lime.  I've always liked the radio show and of course, loved the film, The Third Man (which, if you have never seen it, you are truly missing one of the greatest achievements of not just just film, but art.)  I'm beginning to appreciate the radio show more as time goes on and I'm not sure why this is.

The writing has always been very good and of course, Orson Welles is Orson Welles; one needs to say no more.  Welles is absolutely perfect as the suave, smart-alecky thief - although to call Lime a "thief" is a lot like calling Norman Rockwell a "painter."  I can't think of anyone I'd rather "see" in the part of Lime.

As I am about half-way through the series, I don't know if it is that I am finally comfortable with Harry (as you probably know, he's a very seedy character) - or that the scripts are actually getting better.  They have been good all along, although some have been quite predictable.  Somehow, Welles makes it fun even when you know he's going to get caught.  It's as though Welles himself is a bit of a butterfly; if he does get caught, he's still beautiful and unable to be smashed.  Plus you know there is always going to be another show.

And the music of Anton Karas keeps rolling around in my head; I often awake at night to go to the potty only to hear the di-da-di-di-di de-da-di in my head and I am only in deeper trouble after I spend many, many minutes somedays, watching kids 9 years old play the song on the guitar as I sit in amazement:


I wonder how many of you have grasped that through the entire show we have the marvelously exotic and moody soundtrack, only to have the odd bit of non-Karas music thrown into almost every episode near the end?  It is a startling piece that I believe is put there because Harry usually gets his come upppance.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

Anton Karas/The Third Man Theme

One of the best: Third Man -The Lives of Harry Lime

From the film, The Third Man

If you were to take a poll of die-hard film fans and movie critics and ask them which is the best foreign film ever, there's a good chance The Third Man would be in the top five, if not number one.  The Third Man may also be the best post-war film ever made in Europe as well.

The radio series, Third Man: The Lives of Harry Lime is based on the film.  In the movie, Harry Lime was played by the too-incredible-for-words Orson Welles.  Lime is an unscrupulous two-faced character, an outlaw of very questionable ethics (stealing medicine, selling it and replacing it with cheaper medicine) that somehow remains (even shines as) a likable person.

How can this be?  It happens that Welles is like King Midas on the screen or on the radio. And The Lives of Harry Lime is no different.  Although instead of penicillin, Lime is stealing paintings and jewelry and taking it from little old ladies (actually greedy spies) and people who can barely speak English (but always far greedier than he.)

From Kuwait to South Africa and every corner of the globe, Lime was a double-dealing butterfly.  And even when he gets caught red-handed, somehow he usually manages not only come out with no jail time but manages to steal some bounty as well.  We're talking large sums of money ($100,000 or a quarter of a million.) 

And the radio show, like the movie, features the memorable zither music of Anton Karas:



It doesn't at all hurt the series that Welles wrote many of the episodes - how many, we don't know but it does appear that he wrote at least five of them.

Not all of the shows have perfect sound but the shows are so good you tend to forget about that. I would give this show at least 4 and a half stars.